


A Failed Marriage

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 04:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3277550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon thinks about the reasons for his failed marriage</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Failed Marriage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sentinel Thursday, prompt reason

He had known for some time that his marriage was failing, but he had no real idea why. All right, there had always been a - yes, a class difference; his wife's family had money, his - although not poor, although enjoying a comfortable standard of living - didn't have the sort of income that would enable the members of it to live a life of luxury.

In other words, he had to work, unlike his father-in-law who had never worked a day in his life and enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle living off the interest of the fortune his grandfather and then his father had somehow managed to amass though playing stocks and shares. Mr. Alexander didn't even do that; his most energetic hours were those he spent in his garden, though he had, almost as a hobby, developed some new varieties of flowers that had done well at horticultural shows and which he had sold for quite a lot of money to seed merchants. And he gave his daughter a fairly generous monthly allowance, which she kept for herself, not sharing it at all with her husband... not that he was interested in it.

So yes, he had to work, and he worked long hours, sometimes unexpectedly long hours if he was called out to a crime that was reported - and handed to him - just half an hour before he was due to leave the PD for the day. And when that happened, he never, never, failed to let his wife know.

When he was promoted to Captain, he thought things might improve; the pay was better and he didn't have to work unexpected overtime.

It didn't help. The additional pay meant little to a woman who only had to ask her father for extra money to get it. Things at home, already bad, went to worse. There didn't seem to be anything he could do to salvage his marriage. And the one who was suffering most for it was his son.

He tried everything he could think of; he even offered to look for a different, less demanding job, only for Joan to tell him, with more than a touch of bitterness in her voice, that it wouldn't matter what job he had, his work would always be more important to him than his family. He would drop everything to answer an emergency there - or anything he considered an emergency, however minor it might seem to anyone else. She was tired of making excuses for him when he put his work ahead of - for example - attending PTA meetings - wasn't he interested in how well Daryl was doing in school? He wasn't married to her, he was married to his work!

Finally, reluctantly, he realized that her argument of 'the long hours', the 'married to his work', was an excuse, not a reason for the failure of their marriage. She didn't really want to salvage it - or no, if he would agree to giving up work and living off her money, it could be salvaged, but he knew that if he did that he would become the dissatisfied one and the marriage would still fall apart, for a slightly different, yet in some ways surprisingly similar, reason.

***

The speed with which Joan agreed to a divorce was unflattering, but hardly surprising. The only sour note was her demand for alimony, alimony that she absolutely didn't need, and he could only think the reason for the demand was her bitterness talking, because she was also claiming that she had the money to give Daryl a better environment than his father could. Luckily the judge who heard the case saw the demand for the pettiness that it was, and not only denied her claim but gave him access to Daryl every weekend... which meant Daryl visiting him, because there was no way Joan wanted her ex-husband anywhere near her.

And so Simon Banks settled back into single life. He kept his weekends clear - mostly for Daryl's sake, but in part because he knew how much it would annoy Joan that he _could_ \- if the motivation were sufficient.

He still had a fondness for her, but she had killed his love for her. And one experience of marriage had left him feeling that he didn't want to try again. He was living a perfectly satisfying single life, and if he still had the odd argument with Joan over Daryl's future... well, he could always hang the phone up. Ultimately, what Daryl did would be his own decision. Simon knew that he would like to see Daryl in a safer job than the police - while at the same time he was happy that Daryl wanted to follow in his Dad's footsteps.

But he had a loving son, good friends, and he was - for the first time in years - happy.

What more could he ask of life?


End file.
